Nayandahalli Station Should Be Improved

Southern most station of Bangalore, Nayandahalli needs to be developed to offload the load on SBC. Currently, the people of southern Bangalore travelling towards Mysore need to go all the way upto City Station paying hefty amount to autos, stand in very long queues (sometimes miss the train because of not getting the ticket in time) and then take up travel. Hence most of the south bangaloreans take up buses from satellite bus stand.

Currently, there is no walk path from Railway station to Mysore road. People getting down in this station have to walk on the railway track till the next level crossing towards Bangalore side and then take up Auto. Second option is to walk through the slums next to the station till the Mysore road. It is very dark here and also it is not safe.

Express trains do not stop in this station. Only passenger trains stop. 1 minute stop even for express trains here will help lot of passengers of south Bangalore. There is only station building without any road connecting to it. A road of around 300 metres needs to be constructed connecting Mysore road to station with a prepaid Auto Counter. This will offload the passenger from SBC as well as make it convenient for the south Bangaloreans. In future as per the MRTS plan of Bangalore, this is going to become a transport hub with Metro rail and Monorail junction. This is the right time to act.

Set for renovation
Deccan Herald epaper Feb 01, 2008
The Cantonment Railway Station in the City will get a complete overhaul
by mid-2008

While the attention is on the Bangalore International Airport, on how
hi-tech and high end it will be, the Indian Railways have woken up to
the reality that the Gen Next travellers want much more than a filthy,
boring railway station and littered platforms.

Work is going on at a breakneck speed at several stations in the State
for a complete overhaul. A fine example is the Bangalore Cantonment
Railway Station (BNC) in the City, which is being hotly pursued by the
Railway authorities for a facelift. Not just cosmetic but also
utilitarian. The deadline for the complete overhaul is mid-2008.

“We are planning to shift the
reservation counter, presently on the ground floor, to the first floor.
It will be an air-conditioned facility with 10 counters including one
each for senior citizens, differently abled and for unreserved
ticketing system. On the ground floor, we will use the space for a
bigger concourse and a food plaza, catering to all segments,”
said Divisional Railway Manager, Bangalore Division, South Western
Railway, Mahesh Mangal.

For the renovation and expansion plan of the BNC, the railway
authorities also intend to re-claim the road in front of the station,
which belongs to them, but is used as a major arterial road, and
convert it into a parking enclosure. “Right
now the road divides the parking lot and the station and it’s difficult
for the passengers to cross the road to get into the terminal
building.We are thinking of taking the road and bringing forward the
parking lot. The present parking area can be converted into a road.
This way the passengers will have an easy access to the station and the
traffic on the road will also be smooth and uninterrupted,” he
added.

The Railway authorities are discussing the plan with the City Traffic
police, said the DRM. The food plaza at the Cantt Station will be set
up by the Indian Railways Catering and Tourism Corporation Ltd (IRCTC).
“We will have two segments in the
food plaza — controlled, for the lower middle class, who are used to a
plate of idli and vada for Rs 5 and thali for Rs 22 and - the
uncontrolled segment, which will have coffee bars, pizza, burger,
chicken tikka and biryani etc,” said S Gagarin, Chief Regional
Manager, IRCTC.

Inside the colonial looking terminal, there are plans afoot for some
greenery around the pillars. “We will
also do up the arches to highlight them.We are yet to finalise a colour
scheme for the station. On the Millers Road side, we are going to
extend the building and have a direct entry to the station from the
Millers Road.We will increase the concourse area there also and push
the parking a little behind,” said Mangal.

There’s work going on at the Krishnaraj Puram Railway station. “We will have a food plaza there as well
and improve platform number four. The facade will change completely, to
keep up with the present times and needs. At the City Railway
Station, two lifts are being installed for the passengers, one each on
platform one and seven. “We are also
erecting a huge canopy in front of the station for protection from rain,”
he added.

For seamless integration of Meto, Ciyt Bus, Intercity Trains and up coming Namma Railu Commuter Rail services and probable LRT / Mono on western half of Outer Ring Road, Nayandahalli Station should be shifted further north near Outer Ring Road. This is a major interchange point in South West Bangalore and should be developed by Gok in Co-ordination with SWR.

Years passby, SWR is spending crores during track doubling of Bangalore - Mysore track, increasing the station capacity etc, but this station, which happens to be very close to outer ring road lacks all the facility.

Many people get down here due to 'indefinite halt' of trains to enter SBC. I got down here this Saturday evening in Mysore - Tuticorin express which reaches here at 8:15 PM. It leaves here at 9:00 PM and reaches SBC at 9:10. Whooping 45 minutes wait.

I got down with few fellow passengers who regularly get down here, they advised not to get down there when alone, travel only in Groups and one has to travel 500 metres by walk to reach main road. Again 300+ metres to reach Ring Road Bus Stop. We got down at Nayandanahalli, walked till the end of the platform towards North, got down the platform on the slide and crossed 3+ tracks. One of the track goes even in front of the station building which is strange since there is no road.

We had to get down a muddy slope which would be very difficult to get down when it is rainy. As soon as I was getting down, one person asked to come to side since a snake is passing by, I came to one side, but could not see the snake!! Thought it is very risky to get down here.

Now, there is a new tar road which has been laid by demand of local residents using which you can walk till Mysore road if you are in a group. It is very isolated though.

This is such a bad condition of a railway station within Bangalore close to ring road. Atleast they should give walking path on the tracks at the North tip and some steps which is well illuminated for the passengers to get down.

Second thing is why not KrishnaDevaraya H station which was recently launched as a new station block. It is atleast close by to city roads and one can take an auto and goto southern areas. They should also improve Krishnadevaraya H station with platform height.

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